Using archive recordings, Alex Last tells the story of Britain's most famous hangman.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Albert Pierrepoint was responsible for the execution of some of Britain's most notorious murderers and was sent to Germany to hang more than 200 Nazi war criminals after World War Two.

He said he was always determined to treat prisoners with dignity and respect whatever their crime.

This programme was first broadcast in 2015.

(Photo: Albert Pierrepoint. Credit: Getty Images)

In 2010, a plane carrying the Polish president, Lech Kaczyński, crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing everyone on board.

It was one of the most tragic moments in modern Polish history.

The country’s minister of foreign affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski was one of the first people to hear about it. He’s been sharing his memories of the disaster with Matt Pintus.

(Photo: Smolensk air crash wreckage. Credit: Getty Images)

Yoshikuni Noguchi spent time as a guard in one of the prisons in Japan that would carry out the death penalty, and witnessed the hanging of a condemned prisoner in 1971, before going on to become a lawyer. He describes in detail what he saw.

Yoshikuni began speaking out to cast light on the reality of what death row inmates go through, as Japan continues to resist the calls to ban the practice, which is no longer in use in most countries. He tells his story to Dan Hardoon.

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Yoshikunu Noguchi. Credit: Alamy)

Frontman of punk-rock band The Undertones, Paul McLoone, recalls the “weird, slightly funny, slightly sad, slightly surreal” time he was the voice of IRA commander-turned-politician, Martin McGuinness.

It was during the so called ‘broadcasting ban’ in the UK which came into force in 1988.

Paul tells Alys Harte how the legislation led to extra work for him.

(Photo: Paul McLoone during a performance. Credit: Getty Images)

In 2009, hundreds of teenagers’ lives were changed forever, when a vaccine designed to protect them against swine flu appeared to trigger a sleep disorder.

It affected people in various countries including Sweden.

Maddy Savage speaks to Christopher Tyvi from Stockholm, who is one of those who experienced problems.

A Bespoken Media production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Swine flu vaccine. Credit: Getty Images)

Between 1960 and 1966, France carried out 17 nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara.

High levels of radioactivity, and a failure to safely dispose of nuclear waste, have left a dangerous legacy.

Dan Hardoon speaks to Abdelkrim Touhami, who was just a teenager when the French authorities announced a nuclear test near his home.

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Dummies at the nuclear testing site in the Algerian Sahara. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1990s Kosovo, a generation of Albanians received their education crammed into thousands of private homes.

When Slobodan Milosevic’s Serb nationalist regime forcibly evicted them from schools and universities, Kosovan Albanians responded with improvised house schools in their apartments, attics and cellars.

The spontaneous reaction to their ethnic exclusion quickly evolved into a nationwide education system that would endure for the best part of a decade.

Linda Gusia, a pupil in the house schools, and university professor Drita Halimi speak to Jack Butcher. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: A Kosovan house school. Credit: Shyqeri Obërtinca)

In 2013, horse meat was discovered in Irish beef burgers. The scandal snowballed and within six weeks horse meat was found in beef products in more than a dozen European countries.

The story revealed how complex and unregulated Europe’s meat industry was, making it a target for fraudsters.

Ben Henderson speaks to Alan Reilly, former Chief Executive of the Irish Food Safety Authority, who uncovered the scandal.

(Photo: Meat inspection in a French supermarket. Credit: Sebastien Bozon via Getty Images)

On 15 January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 landed in the Hudson River in New York, after geese struck both its engines shortly after take off.

All 155 people on board survived.

Rachel Naylor speaks to Dave Sanderson, the last passenger to be rescued.

(Photo: Passengers and crew aboard US Airways Flight 1549 await rescue. Credit: AP)

The world’s first tidal power station is on the estuary of the River Rance in France.

It was opened in 1966 by President Charles de Gaulle and has been capturing the natural power of the oceans’ tides and turning it into electricity ever since.

Alex Collins hears how the project to build it was a cause for national pride and how the facility is now a tourist attraction, as he speaks to Brittany historian Marc Bonnel.

(Photo: La Rance tidal power station. Credit: Getty Images)